Search narrows for Richmond School Superintendent

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RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)--It’s one of the most important decisions the current Richmond Public School Board will make, according to school board chair Jeff Bourne.

He believes the hiring of the next RPS Superintendent will greatly determine whether the school district’s struggling standardized scores can finally get on the right track.

The board received close 76 applications for the open position and CBS 6 is told that after Monday night’s closed door meeting board members have narrowed that field down to less than a dozen names.

The applicants that remain in the pile will be brought in to be interviewed by the full board for consideration. The board expects it could take a few rounds to get those numbers narrowed down a second time, but they ideally would like to have made a hiring decision before Christmas.

Bourne says when the new super takes over will largely depend on their current employment commitments as many will be coming from other school districts and may not want to abandon their post mid-year.

Out of all the candidates that applied, 82 percent of them have no current or past ties to Richmond. Bourne says the board is looking for someone with a fresh vision and aggressive approach to turning RPS standardized test scores around among other things.

"It’s one of the most important factors, s candidate's ability, demonstrated history of taking on a challenge taking very poor academic scores and turning them around," Bourne said.

Although the meeting was closed Monday, CBS 6 was able to obtain a list of demographic info about the next possible superintendent. Those facts are listed below.